Judge issues bench warrant for 'Deadliest Catch' star Jake Harris

By Christopher Rocchio, 04/22/2010

Jake Harris is in hot water after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing on Wednesday, however the Deadliest Catch star's lawyer claims it was a simple mistake.

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"Jake just made a mistake on his scheduling," attorney Ed Ritter toldPeople on Wednesday. "We plan on going in tomorrow at 2PM to clear it all up."

Harris was stopped by Washington State Police in late February while driving his recently deceased father's BMW 3 Series "erratically" in Shoreline, WA, according to police reports, which added the vehicle was spotted by aircraft.

He was subsequently pulled over and failed a field sobriety test. After he refused to take a toxicological test, police discovered he had allegedly been involved in a hit and run accident with another vehicle earlier in the evening.

Harris arrested for DUI, driving with a suspended license and hit and run.

While the DUI and hit and run charges were eventually dropped, Harris was still charged with reckless driving and had a pretrial hearing scheduled for Wednesday -- for which he failed to show.

"So the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest," King County, WA prosecutor spokesman Dan Donohoe told People.

The warrant's bail amount is $500.

Harris' arrest came a few weeks after his father Phil Harris suffered a stroke while the Cornelia Marie was docked on St. Paul Island in Alaska and off-loading on January 29.

He was airlifted to Anchorage where he underwent 12 hours of surgery the following day and was then put in a medically induced coma to reduce brain swelling. While he had exited the coma and began to show signs of recovery, he subsequently passed away on February 9.